Some lessons from Vietnam!

“Aedes aegypti is fairly unique in that the flight range of this mosquito is quite short. So if someone gets dengue within a house, it is probably due to mosquitoes breeding at their own house or at their neighbour’s house,” he adds.

So, what is the solution?

School children and all groups in society were actively involved. Children carry home information about where mosquitoes breed and how to control them, participate in clean-up campaigns to remove discarded containers, and help old people with mosquito-control measures.

It took about a year for these control measures to have a significant impact on mosquito densities, he says. This was therefore a preventive method that needed to be sustained over the long term. If the control programme was discontinued after the mosquitoes were eliminated, the mosquitoes would return and recolonise the water containers.

The control strategy has already been implemented in 46 communes in Vietnam, according to Dr. Ryan. The mosquito had been completely eliminated in 40 of those communes and the remaining six communes showed very low densities of the mosquito.